Jordan looks to stay hot at Southern C, open against fourth-seeded Absarokee

The Jordan Lady Mustangs had a good regular season. They were 15-3, featured the District 4C’s top-rated offense and top-rated defense. But their three losses came against the top-two teams in the conference, giving them the third seed in the District 4C Tournament.

Those seedings didn’t matter much to the Lady Mustangs, who rolled through the 4C Tournament, winning the title and giving themselves the top-seed in the Southern C Divisional Tournament, being held at the Custer County District High School gym this weekend.

Jordan (18-3) will take on Absarokee (10-12) in first-round action at 6:30 p.m., on Thursdsay.

The Lady Mustangs won their first five games this season before losing a 48-47 game to Broadus, on a buzzer-beater. They beat Ekalaka the next night, but then lost to Wibaux 49-35.

Starting with a 58-54 win over Northern Cheyenne, the Lady Mustangs have won 12 of their last 13 games. Their only blemish during that time was a 42-38 defeat against Broadus.

In the 4C Tournament first-round, the Lady Mustangs nearly found themselves an upset victim. They led Terry 39-26 at halftime, but were outscored by the Lady Terriers 44-35 in the second half and had to hang on for a 74-70 win.

In the semifinals, it was the other way around for Jordan against Broadus.

Broadus took a 41-30 lead into the fourth quarter and led by as many as 13 in the final frame. But Jordan put together an amazing rally to outscore the Lady Hawks 28-14 and win the game 58-55.

That win sent the Lady Mustangs to the championship game and assured them a spot in the Southern C. But they weren’t content with just a berth in the Divisionals.

They opened the 4C championship game on a 13-3 run and outscored Northern Cheyenne 37-27 in the second half to run away with the win.

Charlie Saylor had 20 points and Carrie Murnion had 17 in the championship game win for Jordan. Olivia FitzGerald had 17 points, Murnion had 13 and Saylor had 12 in their win over Broadus.

Murnion averages 11 points per game for Jordan, while Saylor and FitzGerald each average around 10 per game. The Mustangs feature the highest scoring offense in the Southern C, averaging 57.1 points per game.

The Mustangs will face an Absarokee team that averages just 38.4 points per game, while allowing 41.6.

After starting the season 2-1, the Lady Huskies dropped four straight before winning five straight.

The Lady Huskies then faced their daunting part of the schedule again, losing four straight to Park City, Harlowton-Ryegate, Broadview-Lavina and Custer-Hysham.

They ended the regular season with a 67-27 win over Fromberg, but went into the 6C Tournament following a 40-34 loss to Plenty Coups.

In the first-round of the 6C Tournament, the Lady Huskies lost to Park City 48-37.

In loser-out action, the Lady Huskies barely kept their season alive with a 38-37 win over Roberts. They outscored the Lady Rockets 11-4 in the second quarter to take control of the game. Maisey Sheppard had 11 points to lead the Lady Huskies in that win.

Facing a Custer-Hysham team that beat them twice on the season, with a berth in the Southern C Divisional on the line, the Lady Huskies opened strong and beat Custer-Hysham 53-41.

The Lady Huskies jumped out to a 16-6 lead after the first quarter and never looked back in the win. Sheppard had 15 and Haley Fallang had 13 to lead Absarokee.

With their spot in the Southern C guaranteed, the Lady Huskies lost to Park City 43-33.

Absarokee does not have a player averaging over eight points per game, but Sheppard, Fallang, Hannah Hedtke and Emma Chandler each average around seven points per game.

Sheppard, a 5’5 sophomore, averaged 11 points per game in the 6C Tournament, reaching double figures in each of the last three games.

The winner of the Jordan/Absarokee first-round game will face the winner of Broadview-Lavina/Broadus in the semifinals on Friday night at 8 p.m.

The losers of those first-round games will face elimination on Friday afternoon at 3 p.m.